CQN community crisis response

Brogan, Rogan contacted me over the weekend on behalf of an initiative he, Celticrollercoaster and others have taken to assist some of our community during these terrible times. This note below appeared in the comments’ section, which many of you will have read. We are nothing, if not a community of people, bound by values. If you share those values, please give consideration to this. From Brogan, Rogan, Trevino, Hogan:

Dear all,

First and foremost I hope this finds you, your family and friends all safe and well in these difficult days and circumstances.

These are unreal times and unchartered waters for all of us, with many of us forced to stay at home in quarantine. This means we are away from our friends and loved ones and that we have lost the normal everyday interactions with friends family and work colleagues that we treat as part of every day life.

Such enforced quarantine and such a dramatic change in lifestyle is uncomfortable and unwanted at the very best.

Some of us are very lucky in that we can remain at home with our spouses/partners and children (or at least some of them) while others are unfortunately facing this crisis as best they can on their own and without support . No matter what your individual circumstances the situation is difficult.

For many that difficulty is made a million times harder because of basic money worries.

Despite the Government announcing all sorts of grand plans and schemes, the harsh reality is that many people are struggling as a result of simply not being able to work.

Some are employed by small businesses which just cannot afford to carry them while waiting for the Government’s furlough provisions to kick in and apply.

Others are self employed who know they will not be receiving any kind of income or support until June at the earliest.

Still more may be forced to wait in line for subsistence level benefit payments which may, or may not, be granted, while others have simply lost their jobs because a business has folded or because a contract has been cancelled or postponed. Their entire future is uncertain.

These situations cause concern, worry, anxiety and ill health for men, women and children – not forgetting parents.

And of course there is the ongoing Covid19 related health worries and concerns which affect all of us and our families.

It is against that background that myself and others have decided to reach out to you tonight in this somewhat unusual way.

Over the past few days, myself and others have become conscious of some within our community who are struggling – really struggling.

They are struggling on mental and physical health grounds, on a financial basis, and are becoming increasingly desperate as they do not know where to turn for support, advice or help in the immediate, short or long term.

They are in a position where they never thought they would be and in circumstances which they, and we, could never have imagined.

Some of those concerned may be known to you personally, others will be faceless but familiar names on a blog page, while yet more may be complete and utter strangers but known to someone you know.

Over the years, Celtic Quick News and those who have participated in the blog, have helped oh so many people in times of need.

From bringing Martin home, to raising money for Veronica, Oscar and others or walking with Shay and so much more, the CQN community, and to be honest the followers of other blogs, have always done their bit to help where help was needed.

Now, we want to help some of the helpers so to speak.

We want to do what we can to take away some of the worry and angst that is afflicting those who, in past times, were amongst the best at helping others in times of need.

Unlike previous campaigns, we can’t and wouldn’t provide any names or any details. We will never be able to say who was helped and how – that would not be our place.

What we can say is that no one involved in this process or campaign will benefit to the tune of a single penny and no one will receive assistance or help without a few of us knowing precisely what is taking place and being fully involved in the process.

Further, we don’t want this to be any kind of simple request for funds and help. We want the wider CQN/Celtic community to at least have the chance to get something back and to see some benefit as a result of our efforts.

To that end we are going to raffle/auction a number of items some of which will hold personal or real value and which may be treasured by fellow fans and serious memorabilia collectors alike.

For example I am donating an unworn Celtic strip personally signed and dated by Henrik Larsson in 2004 complete with sales tags as if it came straight out the shop yesterday.

Hopefully it will raise a few quid.

So, if you have anything we can raffle or auction please get in touch.

Once the raffles and auctions are online please participate and buy tickets but only if you can afford to at this time.

If you have anything to donate which you think would help please get in touch.

If you want to simply make a cash donation then please do through the walk with Shay account the details of which are to be found below.

If you know of someone who is struggling and who you think we could help in some way then please let us know.

This is a plea to help some people who are struggling through no fault of their own, who you may have met and shared a pint with and who have been very good to others in the past.

Those same people would never think of looking for help for themselves.

On the other hand, some of us cannot sit idly by and do nothing while others struggle.

We hope you feel the same way.

Those of you who participate in last man standing will know how that money is looked after and accounted for.

The same people will be in charge of these funds and a full accounting for funds will be available but with the beneficiaries remaining anonymous for obvious reasons.

Please look out for the details of raffles/auctions and donation details in the coming days – they will appear via facebook and online hopefully through a number of sources.

The huns will be working with their brothers at Hampden, to try and go into Administration, keep the prize money, try and take the 15/25 points this season, but most importantly, if you go into admin,you are banned from European football for 3 seasons….

Bundesliga clubs will be allowed to return to team training on Monday, with some opting to work in small groups. The German top-flight season has been suspended since March 13th because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the German Football League recommending clubs should not train until April 5th.

It is very difficult at this time to assist individuals who are experiencing this at the moment

My inbox is full of clients who have lost jobs and won’t receive any money for 5 weeks from universal credit, people are in the dark and panicking, obviously they can take an advance on their benefit but this will reduce ongoing award until it has been payed back

It’s really soul destroying at the moment ..

Nothing from Utility companies who are making millions offering support

Natural migration into Universal credit when the system was unable to cope with pre virus numbers

A leader worth his / her salt would have dispatched the errant medic straightaway. The explicit private flouting of advice given publicly – (handed down to the plebs) doubtless betrays the calibre of the individual.

Only just realised realised CQN has a Facebook thingy thing. Hope it’s not too complicated. I’ve made a few gaffs on FB before, to the extent that my daughters ordered me off until I learned how to use it properly. Looking forward to the auctions/raffles etc. Hats off to BRTH, CRC and bag Bhoy Lenny.

We learned a few days ago that our middle daughter, currently working as a Mental Health nurse, has been asked to join the new Covid-19 ward in NHS D&G when it opens next Monday. Since 20th March her husband has been in lockdown with us, so she has been all alone, working away without complaint or fuss. We miss her, and worry about her, but she has chosen her profession and is actually quite honoured to be asked to join this new team. The one thing she can’t stand is the “hero” tag employed by sycophants in the media, politicians and others who didn’t give a flying (d)uck about the NHS 6 months ago…..and that includes 93 year olds uttering vapid platitudes that fool no-one.

Oh, and while we’re on that….the other 4 times she has deemed to open her mouth: Her own diamond jubilee – Whoopee, a tad personal, eh, what; the death of her old bigoted mother – a bit personal again, methinks; the death of her daughter-in-law – more personal, or was it a cover up; and the first Gulf War – personal interest in keeping the world order intact. Nothing about the Miner’s Strike, The Hunger Strikes…pick your own favourite topic. Jeez, two words from her – “Stop it” – to her brethren and sistren of a certain persuasion could have put an end to the fleg wars, but no, not worth bothering about. An odious bunch of blaggards, the lot of them.

my point was, to save the economy after 2007/8 severe austerity cuts were justified and applied most stringently to the poorest, massive numbers of working people were forced to take pay cuts to keep their employers in business.

Since then we were told by govt statistics, inflation is/was at an all time low approx 2.7% per year while fundamentals increased greater than the published inflation figures. For example electricity prices have doubled, gas slightly less than double since 2006. That’s real inflation of 7% a year since 2006, do you know anyone who received 7% pay rise every year since 2006?

Fact is most jobs are now only returning to their pre 2006 pay rates before they were forced to take a cut in 2008/9.

Govt statistics show inflation since then totals 45.7% yet the numbers above show real inflation based on fuel only is approx 100%, does that help clear up my point.

The question (I think you were referring to) was asked about social care workers in the community, not health/NHS workers.

From what I gather, given that testing resources are finite, they’ve set a priority of NHS staff first, then other front line/community care workers, then the rest of us.

It’s important I think to note that while NHS staff have been prioritised for testing, given there are many folk in care homes and many more again receiving Dom Care at home, that this represents a huge risk to spread. Asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic Dom Care staff doing their rounds as usual cannot know if they are infected and infectious, and the fear is that this becomes a significant source of spread.

Likewise staff in the care homes. Once the virus is in the home, it runs its ghastly course.

Thankfully it appears as though the PPE supply issue in England isn’t as severe up here.

The problem in dealing with it all is simply scale. Last time I looked there were over 60,000 Dom Care workers in Scotland, all of whom should* be tested every five days or so if we were to mitigate the risk of community spread from this source. Clearly that can’t happen until the resources – tests, analysers and people – are increased by a factor of maybe 10.

Then add in the Care Home and Nursing Home staff, probably another 10,000 staff.

And on top of that lot, there’s 160,000 NHS staff in Scotland, most of whom are directly at risk of a) being infected at work; and b) spreading infection to staff and non-Covid wards.

The numbers are huge. I’ve no idea how you might manage such a huge imbalance between requirement and capacity. ATM they seem to be testing patients with severe symptoms and NHS staff and family with symptoms, with a capacity of about 2000 tests per day. I suppose the priority is to ensure clinical staff can work and work safely.

As the numbers above show, a 10 fold increase in capacity would be required to cover Dom Care and Care Home staff, and maybe 100 fold increase will be needed before the public at large can be tested.

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